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Author Topic:   Your EvC Debate Dream Team - Fantasy Debating
Coyote
Member (Idle past 2106 days)
Posts: 6117
Joined: 01-12-2008


(2)
Message 211 of 218 (636351)
10-05-2011 11:25 PM


A debater, an apologist, and a scientist walked into a bar...
Actually, no. I just made that up.
But there are significant differences among these three.
A debater can take any side of an issue (much like a lawyer), and they don't care about the facts. They'll argue anything.
An apologist can take only one side of an issue, and doesn't care about the facts either. This is particularly true of religious apologists. They'll argue using anything that favors their belief, and they have been known to make things up from whole cloth.
A scientist is supposed to follow the facts to wherever they lead, and most do just that.
Scientists are trained to ignore magic, superstition, wishful thinking, divine revelation, old wives tales, folklore, what the stars foretell and what the neighbors think, omens, public opinion, spells, ouija boards, anecdotes, tarot cards, sorcery, naturalism, seances, black cats, table tipping, witch doctors, divination, "miracles," the unguessable verdict of history, hoodoo, voodoo, and all that other weird stuff.
Would that everyone were similarly trained, eh?

Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.

Replies to this message:
 Message 212 by xongsmith, posted 10-06-2011 4:25 AM Coyote has not replied
 Message 214 by New Cat's Eye, posted 10-06-2011 11:11 AM Coyote has not replied

  
Coyote
Member (Idle past 2106 days)
Posts: 6117
Joined: 01-12-2008


Message 217 of 218 (636419)
10-06-2011 11:39 AM
Reply to: Message 216 by New Cat's Eye
10-06-2011 11:30 AM


Re: A debater, an apologist, and a scientist walked into a bar...
What does it mean?
The phrase "Would that..." expresses a wish for something.
You could read "would that..." as "I wish that..."
Pretty archaic usage I guess.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 216 by New Cat's Eye, posted 10-06-2011 11:30 AM New Cat's Eye has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 218 by New Cat's Eye, posted 10-06-2011 11:47 AM Coyote has not replied

  
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